As an effective IT recruiter, whether you are a contractor or an in-house recruiter, you must perform an excellent job in getting talents with the right IT skills for your company or client’s open IT position. However, it takes more than just the ability to identify talent by asking a bunch of comprehensive questions about the job spec. This article will identify nine core skills an effective IT/tech recruiter must have.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is a Technical Recruiter?
A general recruiter differs from a tech recruiter because they only need to know about a broad category of random industries to choose the right talent. However, an IT recruiter has specialized knowledge in information technology and other subsets in the tech industry.
Familiar with other recruiters, they are responsible for finding and screening qualified candidates, arranging interviews, and acting as a liaison between companies and prospective employees. But their core adept is in hiring for IT technical roles – which means tech recruiters need enough IT knowledge to converse with, assess, and screen candidates effectively.
Where do Technical Recruiters Work?
As a tech recruiter, you may find yourself working in nearly every industry because, these days, tech is paramount in the smooth running of any company. However, most IT recruiters work majorly in tech firms under the human resources department within a company or in a technical recruiting agency. And since they’re to fill open positions within a technology-focused company, they’ll likely fill many different IT roles, including permanent and temporary, project-based jobs.
How To Become a Technical Recruiter?
This job requires a significant degree of discipline; although it’s not mandatory, it’s helpful, especially with the right major like sociology, psychology, sales, HR, or business. Gaining the right recruiting skills through on-the-job experiences from interning at a staffing agency, and working in administration, support, operations, or research roles can also help you land a recruiter role. You can also consider taking relevant certifications such as Certified Personnel Consultant, LinkedIn Recruiter Certification, or the American Staffing Association, as these can replace your bachelor’s degree (if you don’t have one).
Finally, you’ll need to find a position with an IT recruiting firm as it will generally help you learn more on the job – while you get a clear look at the ins and outs of the recruitment requirements and how the processes are done.
What are Technical Recruiter Skills?
These are collective IT skills and abilities that a recruiter must possess to successfully and effectively search, review, interview, and hire talents with the right IT skills and qualities for a particular tech role. A technical recruiter’s collective skills and abilities often include soft skills, advanced skills, and tech tools. And while the tech industry, especially in IT, is constantly changing, a tech recruiter requires consistent redefining, developing, and learning IT systems and IT recruitment skills to feed them the tools and information they need to interact and choose the best talent for the job.
9 Essential Skills of An Effective IT Recruiter
To be a technical recruiter doesn’t necessarily mean that you should be an expert in tech nitty-gritty. However, you should have a basic knowledge of current tech tools and trends and well-developed soft skills since you’ll spend much of your days meeting various personalities and mindsets. So, here are some crucial skills for IT recruiters:
Communication Skills
Any recruiter, be it a technical or a general one, must know that they work with people first. So, as a technical recruiter, it’s not just about scanning and asking many penned-down questions. Still, it’s about understanding feelings, perceptions, and needs and communicating effectively with talents, whether in person, over a phone call, or via email.
The fact that tech recruiters are a bridge between a candidate and a company alone makes it paramount to have practical communications skills to provide clarity. And you can either attract or discourage the candidate from applying for open roles for their clients’ companies based on the impression you give during your communication process.
Interpersonal Skills
Also identified as relationship skills means that an IT recruiter should be able to bond, build and maintain quality, genuine relationships with candidates. Recruiting messages and interviews should be tailored to the candidate’s interests and skill set, highlighting the offer’s benefits specific to him and his career.
As tech recruiters, it’s also essential to adopt great listening and communication skills and take the time to understand each client’s and candidate’s needs and diverse culture. “Each client has a unique environment. A good technical recruiter ‘gets it’ early on that it is way more than a tech skill set that companies are looking for—they want candidates that share their passion and vision.”
Diversity Skills
As a technical recruiter, your recruiting process and decision should be strictly based on candidate performance, attitude, and the right IT skills that fit the company’s culture. Hence, you need “diversity skills” to help you screen and hire candidates regardless of any barrier unrelated to the skill set.
Time management Skills
Time management skills are core recruiting skills for tech recruiters since they have to constantly work with multiple candidates and companies at one time and meet up within time frames. IT recruiters must be able to work on a tight schedule to meet company deadlines or keep interview schedules running smoothly.
You may also be required to multitask in your recruiting jobs, like attending events to find potential talents, reviewing and updating job description ads, cold calling, or running background checks on the candidate or the company. And doing this will require a lot of time management and prioritization skills to ensure they’re working efficiently and keeping on track with their responsibilities.
Sales Skills
This skill is an advanced recruiting skill that allows a recruiter to pitch a tech job position to candidates and enticingly explain the role’s benefits. An IT recruiter also has to sell a potential candidate to hiring managers within a company, so it’s very core that they know the very least of sales tactics to attract more candidates and convince the company to hire a particular candidate.
Negotiation Skills
This skill is vital for any recruiting business, and since recruiting is a sales profession, there will be lots of negotiation. As an IT recruiter, you need to understand the expectations of the candidate and the organization when negotiating. This way, you’ll be able to strike a balance to generate a win-win scenario for both.
Also, this particular recruiter skill emphasizes that a person who has any negotiation framework in mind gains an enormous advantage in the negotiation process. So as a tech recruiter, it’s crucial that you “set the tone” and negotiate to some middle ground that works well for both sides when it comes to recruitment negotiation.
Technology Skills
From knowing how to use recruiting software platforms to learning how to operate using the internet for advertising and researching and initiating recruitment processes, having the slightest basic knowledge in technology “tool” skills are fundamental. IT Recruiters hiring for IT-related jobs also require some basic IT knowledge and skills to understand more about the role they’re tasked to fill, which can help them find the right candidate.
However, you don’t need to master all the tools and technologies – all you need is to have an idea about the basics. It will also help if one understands the latest hiring and related processes – applicant tracking systems, HRIS systems, job posting platforms, networking platforms, traditional job portals, and social recruitment. It’s always a great idea to be updated on emerging technologies, as this will make your recruitment process more seamless and effective.
Patience
Patience, persistence, and determination are essential in the highly competitive tech world, where 81% of IT professionals are already employed. Effective technical recruiters are often patient and determined, yet they don’t settle for less by rushing to fill a job position.
Although, as frustrating as it may be to leave a job vacant for an extended period, as an IT recruiter, being in haste to fill in is worse because you’ll have to recruit again if the candidate doesn’t match up with the requirement. As IT recruiters, you may also be required to follow up politely but persistently and to be able to pivot if things aren’t working out as planned quickly.
Attention to Detail
Strong attention to detail with an eye for potential is one of the many essential recruiting skills for an IT recruiter since they may work with a large talent pool. Effective recruiters understand the components of their corporate culture and look for individuals whose work style, expectation, and behavior are compatible.
Bonus Tip: Another undervalued skill that most recruits forget is reading body language, active listening, analytics, critical thinking, and creativity. It’s also important to reach out to candidates who are less likely to be already overwhelmed with offers, and an excellent way to do it is to drop the common forms of finding candidates (LinkedIn). Consider looking elsewhere, such as GitHub, partnering with local universities, or using talent networks.
To sum up,
Being a technical recruiter requires you to have passion for this job and industry, so you have to take your time to improve your IT recruiting skills and build your career. As an IT recruiter, you must think proactively, communicate effectively, and be tech-savvy with analytical skills. Your diversity, interpersonal, sales, and negotiation skills must also be top-notch. Don’t forget that the best things often take time, so you must have excessive patience and a keen eye for potential when looking to fit a tech role. Once you can work on building these skills, you can position yourself as an expert in this profession.
Want to know more about IT recruiting and other must-have recruiting skills not listed here? Catch all the juicy recruiting information on our candidate services page.
